Military first home turned rental

[Scott Dardenelle]

Investment Info:

Single-family residence buy & hold investment in Mechanicsville.

Purchase price: $389,000

We bought our first home in southern Maryland while my wife was stationed at JB Andrews. We loved the house and the community but when it came time to sell it, there was a lot of interest, but no offers. We decided to rent it out for a year and re-list it the following summer. We were just told by our renters that they like the house so much that they would like to rent it another year. Works for us!

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

We didn't buy with the thought of it being a rental, so it was ready to go day one for us.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

We found it on realtor.com and our realtor negotiated it.

How did you finance this deal?

We used a VA loan.

How did you add value to the deal?

We added a fence around the property and replaced the carpet.

What was the outcome?

We are still renting it out but if the renters would like to purchase from us in the future, that wold be great.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

Going into a house for 4 years, we didn't anticipate not being able to sell it, so we didn't look for a place where we could add any value.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

James Dick from Long and Foster is fantastic. Would love to work with him on more deals.